How long does it take for the media in a wet dry filter fully "seeded" with beneficial bacteria? lets say in a typical scenario, old tank, wet dry just added with med sized bio load ..
How long does it take?
- Thread starter redtailfool
- Start date
I once read a report that nitrifying bacteria actually takes 6 weeks to fully establish. I am unsure of how accurate this is..
OK, I asked this a couple of weeks ago as I was setting up a wet/dry and switching from a canister. No one knew for sure but because the tank had been in operation with the canister and did not need to be cycled the general consensus was that 2 weeks should do it. 
So I ran the wet dry with the canister filter for 2 weeks, then removed the canister filter. I had a few bio balls in my canister filter so when I removed it I put the bio balls on the top of the balls in my wet/dry, I also placed a piece of dacron filter material from the canister onto the drip tray in the wet dry. So there should be plenty of BB from the canister available to colonise the wet dry.
I did the change over about 5 days ago. A couple of days later I checked ammonia levels and it looked to be at 0.
Another couple of days later I checked PH and it was down to about 5.7! 
My PH has always been a little low and fish havent minded but this was a bit too low. I put some shell grit in the sump to try and buffer the PH drop(this was 2 days ago), checked it yesterday and it was nearly down to 5 
There was some uneaten food in the prefilter for the W/D and some that had gone down the overflow and got caught inside the spray bar for the W/D. I removed the spray bar and cleaned the prefilter as well as done a 25% water change last night so I'm waiting to see what the PH is tonight. I'll check ammonia levels again too.
Anybody know what would cause the PH to drop lilke that? would the W/D not being colonised properly with BB be a cause for low PH? Or would that just show up as ammonia?
I'm not sure if this helps you redtailfool but if my problem is related to the W/D not having enough time to settle in then it might
So I ran the wet dry with the canister filter for 2 weeks, then removed the canister filter. I had a few bio balls in my canister filter so when I removed it I put the bio balls on the top of the balls in my wet/dry, I also placed a piece of dacron filter material from the canister onto the drip tray in the wet dry. So there should be plenty of BB from the canister available to colonise the wet dry.
I did the change over about 5 days ago. A couple of days later I checked ammonia levels and it looked to be at 0.
Another couple of days later I checked PH and it was down to about 5.7! My PH has always been a little low and fish havent minded but this was a bit too low. I put some shell grit in the sump to try and buffer the PH drop(this was 2 days ago), checked it yesterday and it was nearly down to 5 There was some uneaten food in the prefilter for the W/D and some that had gone down the overflow and got caught inside the spray bar for the W/D. I removed the spray bar and cleaned the prefilter as well as done a 25% water change last night so I'm waiting to see what the PH is tonight. I'll check ammonia levels again too.
Anybody know what would cause the PH to drop lilke that? would the W/D not being colonised properly with BB be a cause for low PH? Or would that just show up as ammonia?
I'm not sure if this helps you redtailfool but if my problem is related to the W/D not having enough time to settle in then it might
hardb0iled said:OK, I asked this a couple of weeks ago as I was setting up a wet/dry and switching from a canister. No one knew for sure but because the tank had been in operation with the canister and did not need to be cycled the general consensus was that 2 weeks should do it.
So I ran the wet dry with the canister filter for 2 weeks, then removed the canister filter. I had a few bio balls in my canister filter so when I removed it I put the bio balls on the top of the balls in my wet/dry, I also placed a piece of dacron filter material from the canister onto the drip tray in the wet dry. So there should be plenty of BB from the canister available to colonise the wet dry.
I did the change over about 5 days ago. A couple of days later I checked ammonia levels and it looked to be at 0.
There was some uneaten food in the prefilter for the W/D and some that had gone down the overflow and got caught inside the spray bar for the W/D. I removed the spray bar and cleaned the prefilter as well as done a 25% water change last night so I'm waiting to see what the PH is tonight. I'll check ammonia levels again too.
Anybody know what would cause the PH to drop lilke that? would the W/D not being colonised properly with BB be a cause for low PH? Or would that just show up as ammonia?
I'm not sure if this helps you redtailfool but if my problem is related to the W/D not having enough time to settle in then it might
much organic matter decomposes and use O2 and creates acid, acid in turn lowers the pH of the water(correct me if im wrong) you might wanna add a buffer to raise and stablize the pH or switch your substrate to aragonite.